Morris County employees are being transferred from their normal duties to deal with an avalanche of requests for new passports.

And it is all a result of confusion over a federal law passed by Congress nearly a decade ago that has still not gone into effect in New Jersey.

Many people apparently are under the misapprehension that they won’t be able to fly domestically later this year without passports. But people actually will have until Oct. 1, 2020, when they will either have to obtain a new kind of driver’s license or produce a passport to fly or enter government offices.

The law, known as the “Real ID Act,” will involve a new form of photo identification driver’s license. The law was passed in response to national security concerns after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

After Oct. 1, 2020, the new license will be required to enter any federal building, including courts, post offices and military bases, or to fly domestically. Those without the new license will have to produce a passport to fly or enter government facilities.

Deputy Morris County Clerk John Wojtaszek said the office has provided around 6,000 passports to date compared with around 7,000 for all of 2016.

“The number of passport applications is exploding,” Wojtaszek said.

Standardized Information

The Real ID Act of 2005 requires states to standardize driver’s licenses across the nation into a single national identity card and database.

“There is a lot of confusion about this,” said Brian Ahrens, spokesman for the N.J. Motor Vehicles Division.

The deadline for New Jersey to update its licenses was Jan. 10, but the U.S. Department of Homeland Security approved an extension to Oct. 10. The state expects to be granted another extension through October 2020.

Currently, 23 states and U.S. territories are compliant with the Real ID Act. Twenty-two states, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York, have until Oct. 10 to become compliant. New Hampshire has until June 1. Just five states’ licenses will not be accepted at federal facilities starting Jan. 10.

But even after October 2020, requests for the new licenses will be optional. Anyone can opt to continue using the current form of license, but they will not be able to use it as identification to board planes or enter government facilities, Ahrens said.

Ahrens said the delays in implementing the new system have largely been caused because the state’s computer system is being upgraded.

The licenses under the new law will be slightly different than the current licenses. The number of points of identification will be similar and the cost is expected to remain the same. The biggest change required in the new law is that all documents must be scanned and maintained.

And this has drawn the opposition of civil libertarians and groups.

A statement of the American Civil Liberties Union said the Real ID Act will create a national identification system.

“The Real ID Act of 2005 requires states to standardize driver’s licenses across the nation into a single national identity card and database,” the ACLU said. “While it is ostensibly aimed at improving driver’s license security, its actual effect is to turn those same licenses into national ID cards by stipulating that state driver’s licenses and state ID cards will not be accepted for “federal purposes”—including boarding an aircraft or entering a federal facility—unless they meet all of the law’s numerous conditions.”

The ACLU said the law “would facilitate the tracking of data on individuals and bring government into the very center of every citizen’s life. By definitively turning driver’s licenses into a form of national identity documents, Real ID would have a tremendously destructive impact on privacy.”

The ACLU of New Jersey and Rutgers School of Law Constitutional Rights Clinic have argued against the plan to copy and maintain private identification documents, including birth certificates and Social Security cards. The information would be stored in large databases linked with other states.

“The REAL ID law and its interlinked state databases effectively create a national ID,” said Rutgers School of Law Dean Ronald K. Chen. “This ID system will not improve security, and it will significantly intrude on our privacy. In the proposed regulations, the MVC paints a false picture of giving residents an option to forgo a REAL ID, but in reality, people will only have one choice, regardless of which ID they get — to put their sensitive personal documents in a massive, multi-state database.”

Donations are accepted at the Long Hill Senior center, located at 769 Valley Road, Gillette, starting Aug. 1. Donations may be dropped off Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m, and Thursday mornings from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.

Items will be collected through Sunday, Oct. 1.

Stop by the center or call (908) 628-1101 to make other arrangements.

The senior center will not accept clothing, televisions, encyclopedias, large furniture, golf clubs, high chairs, strollers or any broken items.

Land_sales

JUNE 2017 LAND SALES -esf

New Jersey Hills Media Group Editor

06.27.17

Real estate transfers originate from public records compiled by the county clerk of each county. Transfers are supplied by Fox’s Data Services at www.foxsdata.com.which collects the city, address, buyer names, selling price and seller information. Questions regarding the accuracy of the information provided can be directed to the county clerk’s office or Fox’s Data Services. The municipality is determined by postal zip code.

LONG HILL TWP. – The Long Hill Township Police Explorers is looking for young men and women who want to explore law enforcement as a possible career. The explorers train with police officers to handle scenarios including burglary, assaults, domestic disturbances, building searches and much more.

Long Hill Explorer Post 264 welcomes young men and women ages 13-20 years to attend a meeting and try out some hands on experiences. Meetings are 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursday of every month at the Long Hill First Aid Squad Building, 949 Valley Road in Gillette.

“The program is a great opportunity for young men and women to get involved in law enforcement, understand and experience the necessary skills to be a police officer,” said Jason Ross, an associate advisor with Post 264. “They train with the officers from the Long Hill Police Department, volunteer at community events using the skills they learned, special events throughout the year: the post has been to the firearms range, jail, dispatch center, and other activities.”

Explorers receive classroom instruction and hands-on training from law enforcement officers who are dedicated to working with young men and women. The officers also arrange activities and trips, bring in guest speakers and act as positive role models, providing career counseling and mentoring.

For more information on becoming an explorer, call Ray Clarke at (908) 698-9073.